Living Death?

November 13, 1985|By Helen Raddatz.

OAK LAWN — Joan Beck`s column of Nov. 4, regarding the unfortunate decision by Judge David H. Kopelman to continue to maintain the life of a man in an irreversible coma, despite the request of his entire family to desist in further medical intervention, highlights an increasing moral and ethical problem for society. Before hospitals became the accepted ``pre-death`` experience, home was the place to die--peacefully, quietly, surrounded by loved ones who, despite their hurt, knew when to ``let go.``

In my parents` time, it was unthinkable to prolong the agony of death with respirators, feeding tubes or IVs. Death occurred as a natural end to a serious illness.

A life sustained by artificial means beyond the point where recovery can be expected cannot be called ``living.`` Can it be that we, as a society, have become so afraid of death we are willing to accept the alternative: living death?